…custom electronic workbench

I’d been using an old dining table as a workbench for a long time – and it just wasn’t working out. The cables for all the test equipment kept getting tangled up, and it was too deep to be an efficient use of space. 20 minutes in to any project and it was a mess…

Before.

For Father’s Day I got a pocketing jig that lets you make joins in wood very quickly. So… instead of going out and buying a new desk I decided to make one custom-fit for me. I had about half a dozen 2×4′s kicking around the garage and so this seemed to be a great use for them.

After.

I started with just some basic measurements (height of chair etc…) and built the desk around myself. So everything is at the right height and within easy reach. I think the trick is to just modify it to suit your needs. 2×4′s are cheap and very forgiving of having multiple holes drilled in them. Since there wasn’t a lot of glue involved I can reconfigure it whenever I need to.

There was very little measuring needed and the whole thing went together in a day. I’d just mark up the timber against the existing structure, cut, drill and attach.

Additionally, lifting all the test equipment up off the main work area helps enormously with the cable tangle problem.

Who is this guy?

Steve Hobley works for a software company, but in his spare time likes to deconstruct all the lovely consumer goods with a goal to make unique and interesting things.

A few years ago he posted a short clip of the laser harp he developed, solely to show friends back in the UK.

Automagically that one clip got picked up by Gizmodo, Engadget and a bunch of other tech journals. The end result (apart from a ton of views on Youtube) was to get hired as a consultant for Little Boots – creating a laser harp for her 2010 US tour.